Archive for the ‘Hindutwa Periyar’ Category

2017 petition heard and decided in 2019: That the petition W.P. No.28021/2017 was heard two years later and the judges to deliver judgment on 04-09-2019 has been intriguing. None reacted to the judgment or protested to remove any paragraphs from the judgment arguing that they offend their belief or so. Perhaps, most of them are not interested at all. The duo Rajiv Malhothra and Aravinda Neelakantan[1] made much fuss about their favorite duo Deivanayagam and Devakala[2] also keeping quite! Though from 2014 onward, many Hindutwa advocates, lawyers and legal experts have been out, it appears that they do not bother such cases. Of course, they might write in their own websites and journals, read by hundred or two hundred, applause and enjoy time otherwise.

Thanthai Periyar, had advocated both atheism and self respect[3]: Emphasizing the right to propagate views questioning existence of God, the Madras High Court recently dismissed a Public Interest Litigation which sought to remove atheistic inscriptions below the statues of Thanthai Periyar in Tamil Nadu[4]. The bench comprising Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that followers of Thanthai Periyar, in exercise of the rights under Article 19 of the Constitution of India, has a right to disagree with the existence of God.

There is no God, no God, no god,
Those who preached God is fool
Those who spread God Rogue
Those who pray God are Barbarians

These inscriptions below the statue of Thanthai Periyar erected all over the State of Tamil Nadu, offended Dr.M.Deivanayagam[5] who filed a PIL seeking to remove them on the ground that it is an offensive language, and against the ‘Universal God’. According to Dr. Deivanayagam, Periyar had always advocated self-respect and not atheism. He further contended that Periyar had not uttered such words offending people[6]. He contended that during his lifetime, Periyar had never uttered these words, inscribed below the statues, and it was the Dravidar Kazhagam, led by its president K. Veeramani, that had inscribed these lines[7]. A division bench of Justice S. Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad said it was of the view that it was an undisputed fact that Periyar, in all his speeches and publications, from 1928, had declared that[8] “there is no God, God doesn’t exist, one who has created God is a fool”. “The propogation of the philosophy of self respect, social reform, ending caste system, equal rights and Periyar’s vision to establish a society of brotherhood can be deciphered, and according to him, the belief in God was the sole reason for the inequalities in society[9]. Speeches and expression, extracted supra, from 1928, makes it clear without an iota of hesitation that it was Periyar’s philosophy and ideology that became a self respect movement and later on, a party,” the bench said.

Periyar had declared that there is no god, God doesn’t exist, One who has created is a fool: Justice Manikumar, in his judgment, made many references to writing and speeches of Periyar and concluded that he had, in all his speeches, publications, from 1928, had declared that there is no god, God doesn’t exist, One who has created is a fool[10]. The court also observed that, people recognize Periyar as a non believer of God and the one who fought for social justice and self respect. The court said[11]: “Propagation of philosophy of self respect, social reform, ending caste system, equal rights, and Thanthai Periyar’s vision to establish a society of brotherhood could be deciphered, and according to Thanthai Periyar, belief of God, was the sole reason for the inequalities in the society. Speeches and expression, extracted supra, from 1928 and enclosed in the typed set of papers makes it clear, without any iota of hesitation, one can clearly come to the conclusion that it is Thanthai Periyar’s philosophy and ideology, which became a self respect movement and later on, a party”.

Followers of Periyar Has Right To Propagate His Atheistic Views: The court further observed Dravidar Kazhagam Party, has every right under the Constitution of India, to fight for social justice in eradicating inequality, right for upliftment of women and downridden people, express views on religion and existence of God[12]. It further observed that divergent views on philosophy should be allowed to be expressed, and that there cannot be a prevention of freedom of expression, with permanent interest of human progress[13]. It said: “The petitioner has a constitutional right under Article 19 of the Constitution of India, to express his views on religion and existence of God, in the light of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Lalai Singh Yadav’s case, we are of the view that the 2nd respondent and the members of the party, or followers of Thanthai Periyar, in exercise of the rights under Article 19 of the Constitution of India, has a right to disagree with the same.”

Who is Deivanayagam, the Petitioner of the case?: M. Deivanayagam has been a Christian, completed M. A. Tamil fom Madras Christian College, working as a lecturer in Loyola College, done a Ph.D from the chair created by the former Archbishop R. Arulappa, that was reportedly affiliated to the University of Madras. With the publication of his controversial book, “Viviliyam Tirukkural Saiva Siddhantam,” he go some publicity. However, Rajiv Malhothra of Infinity Foundation had given undue publicity through his book, “Breaking India.” Though he never saw and met Deivanayagam he engaged certain people to get information about Deivanayagam. That is why, the information the Rajiv Malhothra group got has been confused and given full credit to Deivanayagam and her daughter Devakala. Aravinda Neelakantan, evidently collaborated for such “Deivanayagam research” making him famous, popular rather than notorious hitherto. Some persons of Hindutva groups have worked as conduits for the information exchange between Deivanayagam and Hindutwa groups. Thus, in 2017, Deivanayagam got this fantastic idea of “Universal God” and filed a writ petition.

What Deivanayagam claimed in his petition: Based on the petition filed, the following points are listed:

The Parliament of World Religions was held between 15th and 19th of October 2015 at Salt lake city, USA. On behalf of our trust [“Trust for the Unification of World Religions through Soulology of the Tamils”], we rented two booths to establish the existence of the Universal God on the basis of the Soulology of the Tamils and all the questions raised by the religious scholars had been answered rationally.

On the basis of the invitation of the Vice Chancellor of Madras University. We have established the existence of Universal God in a rational way on 2nd January 2016.

The President of Dravidar Kazhagam have advertised that, those who prove the existence of God will get a reward of 1 crore rupees and those who prove Pilliyar eats Kozhukattai will get a reward of 2 crore rupees and specifically they have to prove in the premises of Periyar Thidal. Accepting his challenge, we wrote letters to K.Veeramani. We wrote articles explaining a reply to his challenge and published in our magazines. After reading this, due to the fear of losing his challenge, he has hidden himself in his own premises at the specified time. The complete details are published in our Tamizhar Samayam magazine. We are always ready to prove the above challenge at any time.”

What K. Veeramani frecorded about M. Deivanayagam in his counter: What K. Veeramani recorded abot M. Deivanayagam:

It is the further contention of the 2nd respondent [Deivanayagam] that the petitioner used to spend time, in the premises of 2nd respondent’s party [K. Veeramani] under the guise of an atheist and non believer of God.

It is their further contention that after some time, the petitioner has started preaching that in the world, that there are two religions, one is Saivait and the other is Vaishnavait and Gods are Shiva and Vishnu respectively.

The second respondent has further stated that the petitioner is having an organization called “அனைத்து தன்மான தமிழர்களது கூட்டமைப்பு”. Using this organization, on one side, he preached about Periyar and on other side, tried to achieve his individual views, by using 2nd respondent’s party.

As he refused to attend his meeting, he filed this petition as a revenge.

The judgment and its beneficiaries and of course the affected: It is not known as to where the Hindutwa lawyers, advocates and others have gone. Thus, it is very clear that both played dubious play and mischief, just to get publicity through the petition, because, hther it is head or tail, they are the winners and the opponents or the gullible attacked [who always do not know that they are attacked] and the Judges cleverly delivered the judgment giving much publicity to EVR with the English translation that occupies 60% of their judgments. Definitely, the DK, K. Veeramany and Deivanayagam have been the most benefited with the dismissed petition and the judgment.

[1] Authors of the book “Breaking India,” holding that these two were responsible for all the Christa activities carried on in India.

[2] More than half the book deals with a father-and-daughter duo, Devianayagam and Devakala; have you heard of them? They are Tamil evangelists, and while I hold no brief for either of them, I find it hard to believe, as Malhotra does, that they are Enemies Number One and Two in India.

EVR’s Hindutwa or Hindutwa of Periyar: RSS’s comparison of ideologies of Periyar and Hindutwa!

Much in common between Periyar’s Dravidian principles and the RSS ideology[1]: RSS joint general secretary Dr Manmohan Vaidya on 17-05-2018, Thursday expressed confidence that the Sangh would able to strengthen its base in Tamil Nadu, explaining that there is much in common between Periyar’s Dravidian principles and the RSS ideology, as both advocate equality in society without caste and communal differences and class distinctions. “Periyar had campaigned for a society where everyone, particularly the poor and the backward castes, have equal rights and could live in dignity. He had worked tirelessly towards creating a casteless society. RSS too advocates and practises the same ideology”, Dr Vaidya said at a select media interaction here. He admitted that the RSS work in Tamil Nadu could be a bit more divisions created by vested interests”. However, the Sangh would emerge successful in winning the Tamil hearts as the “great unifying factor is spirituality, that’s just the way of Indian living over centuries, marked by kindness, sharing, mutual respect and tolerance, and such other virtues”, Dr Vaidya said[2].

Muslims and Christians in RSS[3]: Elaborating on the RSS ideology, he said the Sangh has several Muslim and Christian members attending the shakhas, which number over 57,000 spread across the country. There is neither religious preaching nor any political discourse at the RSS meetings and shakhas. “We have Dr C I Issac, a renowned history professor, as an important member in Kerala. He has written several well-researched articles on being Hindu”, he said. “A Dravidian leader, who presided over a RSS conference in Tamil Nadu a couple of years ago, had said in his speech that he had actually come to close down the shakhas because he was under the impression that extreme Hinduism was being preached there, but after seeing that the shakhas practiced no class/caste/religious distinctions, he was going back happy that his mind has changed and he now knew the truth about RSS”, Dr Vaidya said. Dr Vaidya is here to be part of the faculty at the RSS summer camp, being attended by over 300 members from all the southern states. There are 80 such camps happening across the country. “There are lectures on spiritualism, clean living, social issues and ways of bringing about positive change among the people, apart from physical training”, explained the RSS leader[4].

Mayawati and Jayalalita: Evidently, either he does know the “Dravidian ideology” or the TN BJP or Hindutwa ideologists have not briefed him properly about the Dravidian ideology and polity. It is definitely incorrect to compare or equate Periarist ideology with that of RSS ideology, as both would not match with each other on many accounts. Incidentally, BJP suffered heavily because of two Lady-politicians Mayawati and Jayalalita. During 1995, Mayawati and BJP experimented coalition rule in UP, but failed, because of the inherent fissures. Though, Periyar was an anti-Hindutwa voice, the Dravidian parties DMK, AIADMK, MDMK were trying to align and aligned with BJP for political compulsion, exploitation and profiteering. The BJP could not forget about the fall because of one vote and it was approaching cautiously with Jayalalita. Now, AIADMK has been with BJP and hence, BJP tries to get benefit out of political confusion prevailing in Tamilnadu, after the demise of Jayalalita.

“Periyar’s Hindutwa” as perceived in 2004: Ravikumar asked, “In such a context, intellectuals who write about Tamil society and polity in the English-language media continue to posit Periyar as an important anti-Hindutva voice. If that were to be true, how/ and why is it that we see Dravidian parties like the DMK, AIADMK and MDMK vying with each other to be seen in the company of BJP? Also, why is it that these Dravidian formations brazenly attempt to implement an agenda over which even states ruled by the BJP would hesitate?,” and then, went on to reply. In the context of “Paraiyar / SC / now mentioned as Dalits”, he pointed out[5], “Periyar was someone who was jealous of the constitutional safeguards that were given to the dalits. Having repeatedly spoken of dalits as a people who don’t have a history, who don’t have a political movement, who don’t have leaders, Periyar even made them believe this. Having used the dalits to serve his political ends, he asked them: ‘Asking the government for jobs, education, duties, huts and housing; and seeking from the Mirasdars two extra measures of paddy will not help in anyway…….Of what use are you to us?”. Periyar worked solely for the cause of the non-brahmin, non-religious minority, non-dalit backward and upper castes. He deployed the concept of ‘majority’ for this purpose. There’s only one difference between the majoritarianism that the hindutvawadis propound and that of Periyar’s: that is, over the exclusion of brahmins from this majority[6]. Then, he concluded[7], “Dravidian parties allying with the BJP even as they praise Periyar is no different from Mayawati’s praise for Periyar even as she rules in alliance with the BJP. There’s always a scope in Periyar’s ideas for such possibilities. This is Periyarism”. Perhaps, “Hindutwa” expression used in 2004 shows the change taken place[8].

“Karnataka” would be repeated in Tamilnadu?: Whatever the nuances are appreciated, filtering out the differences, the anti-Hindu, anti-Sanskrit, anti-Brahmin, anti-dalit, pro-mohammedan, and above all anti-Indian ideology of EVR changed to Periyar could not be coped up with the RSS idelogists. In fact, the hard-core Periyarist, anti-Hindu Dravidian cadre and pro-Tamil ideologists would not accept such proposition, on any account. Therefore, the Hindutwavadis / RSS / BJPwalas should understand the Dravidian mindset. How Jayalalita was treated by them till death and even after hould bge an eye-opener, just because, she is a Brahmin, Pappathi, Aryan and so on. The Hindutava ideologists could get along with AIADMK but not with DMK and therefore, thinking about “Periarists” is redundant, futile and worthless. Though, BJP did not pose as “anti-dalit,” its inaffective campaign in Karnataka produced negative impact, where SC and ST constitute 19%. Even Hindutwa failed with Lingayats and Vokkaligas, as Congress played the “communal card” effectively, spending crores. In Tamilnadu, the higher caste Mudaliyars, Chettiyar, Pillais and others vote for DMK traditionally, because of their affiliations since 1960s. Muslims and Christians do not vote for BJP or BJP aligned AIADMK faithfully. In that manner, Congress plays a trick of “Karnataka” in Tamilnadu, by spitting the votes of AIADMK. The background of Kamal Hassan and Rajinikantha, though not clear, their politics affect only the interests of BJP alliance in Tamilnadu. They can better concentrate to analyze critically as to why RSS could not grow ideologically influencing others.

How to counter Dravidian ideology?: Dravidian Ideology has been powerful, attractive and alive in the minds of crores of people of Tamil speaking people. Many times, majority of them could be brought together or influenced with emotional appeal or threat that “Tamils are targeted, Tamil is danger, Tamil is suppressed by Hindi, Hindi is imposed to deprive out cultural rights” and so on. Though, they have been becoming pious, religious and believing, not because of “Hindu binding,” but, their traditional Tamil rituals, rites and ceremonies. Their caste-politics has been so dominating to capture, keep and enjoy power with economic superiority. Even, today, the TN-BJP has been divided on dravidian fault-lines which could not be cemented with “Hindutwa” as could be clearly observed in the followers, meetings held and social media. Their nuances of “inner-outer” dramatic twists, diplomatic duplicities and dogmatic digs are not learned. First of all, no effective speaker has been produced and the borrowed ones are always drifted to other parties or started their own splinter groups.

In TN-BJP, the leaders have been operating on caste based groupings and followers impacting others.

The second rung leaders have been divided among themselves, depending upon the power, wealth and other factors.

The third level leaders have been divided among themselves as usual division, zone, group, RSS-non-RSS, and such factors.

These three divisions have been further divided based on egoist groups, envying enemies, caste and other factors.

Most of them have been appearing and active only when NDA is in power.

Besides, social media struggle and group rivalry exhibited, there have been flooding of anonymous letters written to Modi down to local office.

Without understanding the nuances of “Secularism” and “communalism,” they go by blind faith of calling it as “Hindutwa”!

Though negative suggestion, propaganda etc., are not advisable, they always indulge in such activities, exposing themselves.

They advice with arrogance as if they are only next to Modi and Amit shah!